D&D 5e Carrying Capacity & Encumbrance Calculator
Enter your Strength score and size to see how much you can carry and how much you can push, drag or lift. Add your gear and coins to check whether you are encumbered.
Character
Inventory
Coins (50 coins = 1 lb)
How carrying capacity works
Your Strength score sets how much weight your character can carry. For a Small or Medium creature the rule is the same in the 2014 and 2024 rules:
Push, drag or lift = Strength score × 30 lb
A character with 15 Strength can carry 225 pounds and push, drag or lift up to 450 pounds. While pushing or dragging more than your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
Size changes the numbers
| Size | Multiplier | Carry (per STR) | Push / drag / lift (per STR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | ×0.5 | 7.5 lb | 15 lb |
| Small | ×1 | 15 lb | 30 lb |
| Medium | ×1 | 15 lb | 30 lb |
| Large | ×2 | 30 lb | 60 lb |
| Huge | ×4 | 60 lb | 120 lb |
| Gargantuan | ×8 | 120 lb | 240 lb |
Small creatures carry as much as Medium ones. Features such as Powerful Build let you count as one size larger for carrying capacity, which doubles it for a Medium character.
Carrying capacity by Strength (Medium creature)
| STR | Carry | Push / drag / lift | Encumbered over (2014 variant) | Heavily over (2014 variant) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 45 lb | 90 lb | 15 lb | 30 lb |
| 4 | 60 lb | 120 lb | 20 lb | 40 lb |
| 5 | 75 lb | 150 lb | 25 lb | 50 lb |
| 6 | 90 lb | 180 lb | 30 lb | 60 lb |
| 7 | 105 lb | 210 lb | 35 lb | 70 lb |
| 8 | 120 lb | 240 lb | 40 lb | 80 lb |
| 9 | 135 lb | 270 lb | 45 lb | 90 lb |
| 10 | 150 lb | 300 lb | 50 lb | 100 lb |
| 11 | 165 lb | 330 lb | 55 lb | 110 lb |
| 12 | 180 lb | 360 lb | 60 lb | 120 lb |
| 13 | 195 lb | 390 lb | 65 lb | 130 lb |
| 14 | 210 lb | 420 lb | 70 lb | 140 lb |
| 15 | 225 lb | 450 lb | 75 lb | 150 lb |
| 16 | 240 lb | 480 lb | 80 lb | 160 lb |
| 17 | 255 lb | 510 lb | 85 lb | 170 lb |
| 18 | 270 lb | 540 lb | 90 lb | 180 lb |
| 19 | 285 lb | 570 lb | 95 lb | 190 lb |
| 20 | 300 lb | 600 lb | 100 lb | 200 lb |
| 21 | 315 lb | 630 lb | 105 lb | 210 lb |
| 22 | 330 lb | 660 lb | 110 lb | 220 lb |
| 23 | 345 lb | 690 lb | 115 lb | 230 lb |
| 24 | 360 lb | 720 lb | 120 lb | 240 lb |
| 25 | 375 lb | 750 lb | 125 lb | 250 lb |
| 26 | 390 lb | 780 lb | 130 lb | 260 lb |
| 27 | 405 lb | 810 lb | 135 lb | 270 lb |
| 28 | 420 lb | 840 lb | 140 lb | 280 lb |
| 29 | 435 lb | 870 lb | 145 lb | 290 lb |
| 30 | 450 lb | 900 lb | 150 lb | 300 lb |
Variant encumbrance (2014)
The 2014 rules include an optional, more detailed system for tables that want weight to matter:
- Encumbered — carrying more than 5 × your Strength score. Your speed drops by 10 feet.
- Heavily encumbered — carrying more than 10 × your Strength score, up to your carrying capacity. Your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity or Constitution.
Under the variant rule a character with 10 Strength is encumbered at just 51 pounds, which a set of chain mail alone exceeds. That is why many tables skip it, or only use it for long overland journeys. The 2024 rules do not include this variant. This calculator scales the variant thresholds by size in the same way as carrying capacity.
How much do coins weigh?
Fifty coins of any type weigh one pound. Treasure adds up fast: a dragon's hoard of 10,000 gold pieces weighs 200 pounds, close to the full carrying capacity of a 14-Strength adventurer. Enter your coins in the calculator, or convert them into gems and higher-value coins before the long walk home.
Weights of common gear
Armor is usually the heaviest thing a character carries: plate armor weighs 65 pounds, chain mail 55 and a shield 6. A standard explorer's kit of backpack, bedroll, rope, rations and waterskin adds roughly 40 pounds more. Use Add common gear above to build your inventory from the SRD equipment list, or add custom items with their own weights.
Tip: Bags of holding, mounts and pack animals are the classic answers to a full backpack. Large animals such as a mule or a draft horse count as Large or are treated as one size larger for carrying, so their capacity is double that of a Medium creature with the same Strength.